


Grasp of Ice, Heart of Fire

by NetRaptor



Series: Destiny and Destiny 2 stories [39]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Darkness, Gen, Good and Evil, Ice Powers, Interrogation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29722014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NetRaptor/pseuds/NetRaptor
Summary: The Praxic Order is tasked with investigating the first fireteam to return from Europa with Stasis powers. Chained in holding cells, Jayesh, Nell, and Grant-4 explain what happened on Europa with Eramis, Exo Stranger, and the Darkness, itself.
Series: Destiny and Destiny 2 stories [39]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1072209
Comments: 7
Kudos: 19





	1. Analysis

**Author's Note:**

> "Some say the world will end in fire,  
> Some say in ice.  
> From what I’ve tasted of desire  
> I hold with those who favor fire.  
> But if it had to perish twice,  
> I think I know enough of hate  
> To say that for destruction ice  
> Is also great  
> And would suffice."
> 
> —'Fire and Ice' by Robert Frost

Aunor Mahal strode down the hallway of her rehab facility, deep beneath the wall of the Last City. She wore her Praxic Order warlock robes, yellow and black in severe, harsh angles. Above it, her honey-colored skin and braided hair would have been attractive, but for the grim expression on her face.

Another warlock emerged from an office and fell in beside her. Aunor didn't break stride. "Well?"

"It's a whole fireteam, ma'am," said her assistant. "All three of them have Darkness readings off the charts. Our Ghosts can hardly stand to be in the same room with them."

"Physical condition?" Aunor said. "Signs of wasting away? Mental illness?"

"That's just it, ma'am," said her assistant, lowering his voice. "They appear as sane and healthy as you and me. The Shadows of Yor rant and rave, but these three … it's creepy. They're so normal."

"I'll handle their initial interrogation myself," said Aunor, pulling out her tablet and entering the information. "The Darkness has likely changed them in subtle ways. They are liars, as it is. After spending three months on Europa, I expect none of them have any soul left whatsoever. Do they still have Light?"

"Yes ma'am," said the assistant. "All three still register the same Light levels they did before departure. Maybe a little higher, actually."

"Strange." Aunor halted outside a heavy steel door. She pulled up the examination report and read it carefully. High Darkness readings, but also high Light readings? No outward signs of deterioration? No mental illness? Her examiners must have been mistaken. No Guardian who communed with Darkness could keep their sanity and their Light. Their Ghosts, at least, would show signs of stress and sickness. She inserted her key and opened the door.

Inside was a concrete room, the walls, floor and ceiling each six feet thick. Three reinforced steel chairs sat in a row in the middle of the floor. Chained to these chairs were the three Guardians in question.

First was Grant-4, an Exo Titan. Stripped of his armor, he was still more than six feet tall. His orange eyes scrutinized Aunor, alert and wary. His mechanical hands gripped the arms of the chair, but he didn't stir. His history with Gambit was a black mark on his record, but he had many campaigns elsewhere with commendations. Interesting.

Second was Nell Anderson, human Hunter. Also a Gambit player, with a note attached that the Praxic Order was watching her closely. She barely topped five feet, with fair skin and jet black hair that framed her heart-shape face. She looked up at Aunor with nervousness and defiance. "What have you done with Hadrian?"

"Your Ghosts are being interrogated," Aunor replied. "They will not be harmed as long as they cooperate."

Nell exchanged glances with Grant and shifted in her restraints, chains clanking. "How long will you keep us here?"

"Until the Praxic Order is certain that you are no threat to the City and the Vanguard," Aunor said. She reached out with her senses, trying to determine how heavily the Darkness gripped this girl. But she sensed nothing. Strange, that. Aunor could always feel the Darkness on other patients.

Last in line was a human warlock, Jayesh Khatri. His skin was darker than Aunor's, but a spark of blue Light danced in his eyes like a reflection with no source. He sat stiff and straight in his chair, watching her and his friends.

"So," Aunor said, facing him. "I always expected to see those two here again, but you? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Khatri. Think of your wife and kids."

"I am," he said in a low voice. "That's why I convinced my team to turn ourselves in."

"Yeah, and look what they've done to us," Nell snapped. "Chains? Really?"

Aunor turned to her, one hand poised over her tablet. "With Darkness ratings as high as yours? You're fortunate I haven't ordered you sedated." She returned her attention to the warlock. "So. You are the team lead. I want a full report about everything you did on Europa."

"My Ghost has my report," Jayesh said mildly. "He would give it to you, if you asked."

"I have his report," Aunor said, glancing at her tablet. "And it's nonsense. I want to hear it from you. All three of you face immediate exile, do you understand? The Vanguard cannot allow these powers within the City walls."

The fireteam exchanged terrified looks.

"So." Aunor gestured to Jayesh. "You, first. Start at the beginning. Name, class, assignment. Everything you say will be recorded."

Her Ghost appeared at her shoulder, ready to capture video and audio.

"My name is Jayesh Khatri," he said. "I'm a warlock, Sunsinger. My specialty is healing. Three months ago, just after the Dawning, my team was assigned to Europa. The Darkness had utterly wiped out two planets and two moons, and had seemed to encamp around Jupiter. We were sent because we have an excellent track record. And … Ikora believed that my connection with the Light would protect me from the Darkness."

"And did it?" Aunor said.

Jayesh frowned. "Maybe. In the end … well, I have to tell it in order."

At the end of the row, the Exo made a sound as if clearing his throat. "If I might contribute?"

Aunor stepped in front of him. "Name, class, assignment."

"I am Grant-4, Striker Titan," the Exo said in a deep, cultured voice. "Have you been to Europa, Ms. Mahal?"

"Yes," Aunor said.

Grant nodded. "Then you understand what it is like. I have been in many desolate places around our solar system, but I have never seen anything like Europa. It is a place of relentless cold, and ice, and wind that attempts to sear the flesh from bone. All three of us died of cold several times before we learned what to wear to stay somewhat warm. This was at the landing site. We died a few feet from our ships."

"It was embarrassing," Nell burst out. "Nell Anderson, Nightstalker Hunter. It was so cold, it made the Tangled Shore look like a tropical beach."

Grant nodded and lifted a chained hand. "We were unprepared. We set out into the wastes in search of the Darkness ships, as we had been assigned. We landed not far from a great pylon, floating like a black diamond above the white snow. We touched it. Spoke to it. Climbed up on it. Nell threw snowballs at it. But it was silent."

Aunor raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"The Darkness had spoken to Ikora," Jayesh said. "It told her to seek them out on Europa the day Mercury and Mars disappeared. But when we arrived … nothing."

"Are you saying the Darkness called you, but said nothing once you arrived?" Aunor said, scanning each face for lying tells.

All three of them nodded. No tells.

Aunor raised her tablet. "This is the report from Jayesh's Ghost, Phoenix. 'We have been on Europa for three days, and have learned nothing except how to survive in the cold. The Darkness is heavy and stifling, oppressing the spirit. At times, my very spark seems choked out. But it never speaks, never reaches out. We might as well be insects for all the notice it takes. All my life, I've feared the Darkness might notice me. I never thought it might ignore me, instead.'"

All three Guardians nodded in agreement.

Nell slapped the arm of her chair, jangling her chains. "We were there almost a month before anything happened. A whole. Damn. Month. I've never been so cold and miserable in my life. Then we started getting closer to Riis-Reborn, and Hadrian started getting the shakes. You know about my Ghost, right? How the Fallen rebuilt him with Servitor parts before he found me?"

"I have his record, yes," Aunor said.

Nell went on, "He doesn't do well around the Fallen. Anyway, they have this huge city inside a giant metal capsule out there in the ice. Like an arcology. They call it Riis-Reborn after their original planet that got Darknessified. Anyway, there we were, slogging through the ice and snow. It's glaciers upon glaciers, so there's huge blue cliffs, and landslides, and canyons, but it's all ice. And Jupiter takes up most of the sky, when it's clear. Blizzards whip out out of nowhere and I hate them. I never live through them. My body mass is too low."

"Stay on topic, Firefly," Grant said.

"This is the topic," Nell said. "So a blizzard was coming in. We'd detected a cave in the ice and were trying to get there, when all of a sudden we picked up a radio transmission. Do you know who Variks is?"

Aunor nodded. "Yes. The Eliksni who was loyal to Queen Mara Sov. We believe he is responsible for the riot at the Prison of Elders that lead to the death of Cayde-6."

"Good," said Nell, "because I didn't know who he was. I resurrected after the Red War. I'm going, 'Hey guys, there's some Eliksni calling for help,' and Jayesh is all, 'That's Variks!' and I'm all, 'Do we even care?'"

Jayesh sighed. "Yes, we cared. Or I did. I remember Variks from the Vestian Outpost. I met him, once."

Aunor gestured. "Go on."

Jayesh said, "We changed directions, which wasn't easy to do, because the wind kept trying to flip our sparrows. As we went, this huge Fallen ketch flies over, barely clearing the tops of the cliffs. Whatever was happening was close by."

Grant spoke up. "My sparrow is heavier than either of my teammates's. We had taken to roping ourselves together during blizzards. I threw them the rope, and I towed their sparrows through the rising wind to the source of the transmission."

"And what did you find?"

"A bunch of Fallen getting ready to off Variks," Nell burst out. "He was frozen to the ground, and they were going after him with spears. Jayesh managed to snipe a guy, then the rest came after us. They had this giant walker machine called a brig that was a royal pain in the neck, and the ass, and the elbow, and everywhere."

"A brig, yes," Aunor said. She tapped her tablet and loaded a series of screen captures from Ghost footage. It showed a two-legged machine with a rounded, heavy body, its arms and shoulders composed of missile racks and machine guns. The House of Devil's mark was painted on the chest. "Your story bears out so far." 

"So then the Fallen backed off," Nell said. "Variks went inside the little building there to warm up. His teeth kept chattering as he talked to us."

"That's how he talks, Firefly," said Grant. "He chitters his jaw for emphasis."

"No, it was because he was cold!" Nell exclaimed, obviously continuing an earlier argument. "You never hear other Fallen talk like that."

"Have you ever spoken to one?" Aunor said.

"No," Nell said. "But I've heard them cussing us in the field and none of them make that sound."

Aunor sighed. "Please stay on track. What happened, then?"

"Another storm started to come up," Nell said. "Variks begged us to activate the radio arrays before the storm hit. He wanted to talk to his buddies or something. So Jayesh went out to turn stuff on."

Nell fell silent and exchanged glances with Grant. Jayesh gazed at the floor, as if his thoughts had wandered far away.

"And?" Aunor prompted.

"And … he didn't come back," Grant concluded. "So … Nell and I went out to hunt Eramis. She was preparing to give a demonstration of Darkness powers--"

"Who is Eramis?" Aunor interrupted.

"The head of the House of Salvation," Grant said, speaking slowly and carefully. "She was a desperately angry Kell who had learned to channel Darkness. She could create and control ice. She called it Stasis."

Aunor turned to Jayesh. "And you?"

He met her gaze, but said nothing.

Aunor stepped closer. "What did you do out there?" she asked in a low voice.

Jayesh turned his head and gazed at the wall.

Nell squirmed in her chair, as if witnessing her friend's reticince pained her. "He came back," she blurted. "Later. He taught us about stasis. You know. Darkness ice powers."

Aunor's gaze turned to Nell for a moment, then returned to the silent warlock. "What are you hiding, Khatri? If you refuse to answer my questions, I may have to resort to more drastic measures."

"I need a room," Jayesh said suddenly. "Alone. I'll tell you everything, but it has to be kept secret."

Aunor arched one eyebrow. Then she shrugged and walked out. A moment later, two huge Warlocks walked in, both wearing the yellow and black of the Praxic Order. They looked like they could have been Titans, burly men with huge arms. They unsnapped Jayesh's chains from the chair, leaving the shackles on his wrists. Then they led him out. Nell and Grant watched him go, anxious.

As soon as the door closed, Nell said, "What will happen to him?"

"He'll be interrogated," Aunor said. "If he complies, then he will be treated."

"He's not sick," Nell said. "Why would you treat him?"

"The Darkness is an insidious poison," Aunor replied. "No matter how much control someone has gained, or think they have, the Darkness will devour them. As it will to you."

"No, it won't," Nell said, leaning forward and glaring. "We're Guardians. And we use Darkness. We're humanity's _salvation_."

Aunor regarded her for a long moment through narrowed eyes. "Then you'd better be convincing."


	2. Antithesis

Jayesh was taken to another room with thick concrete walls, floor, and ceiling. This one had a steel table bolted to the floor with metal loops for shackles on its top. They locked his chains to these loops, saw that he was sitting in a chair that was also bolted to the floor, and left.

Jayesh had enough slack in the chains to rest his head in his hands. He sat there for a long while, eyes closed. He missed his Ghost, Phoenix. He missed his wife, Kari, whom he hadn't seen in three months. All he wanted right now was to feel her arms around him. He wanted to hug his children, Connor and Stephanie, and hold his newest child, Anya, who he had not yet seen. Europa had been cold and grueling, and his spirit felt battered and worn. The Darkness had taxed him to the utmost and left him weary. Now he had to try to explain that long struggle to the Praxic Order, the Vanguard's special investigation force.

And he was hungry. Light, he would kill for a hot meal right now. He hadn't eaten since a hasty meal on his ship on Europa, two days ago. 

The door opened and Jayesh sat up. But instead of Aunor, another huge man entered, also in warlock robes. He had long blond hair in a braid down his back, and carried a tablet in his huge hands. His Ghost looked comically small at his shoulder.

"Cal?" Jayesh said in surprise. Cal had trained him as a Sunsinger after Jayesh had lost his Dawnblade. They had become friends, and deeply respected each other.

"Hey, Jayesh," said Cal. He frowned at his tablet for a moment. Then he peered at Jayesh. "They say that you're saturated with Darkness. Phew, you reek of it. Sunsinger not enough for you?"

"It was learn or die, Cal," Jayesh said wearily. "The Fallen have Darkness powers. We call it stasis. Ice. They kicked our butts with it. If they brought it to Earth, it'd be the end of the City."

"Right," said Cal. "So … you sold your soul to the Darkness?"

Jayesh lowered his head enough to dig his chained hands into his wavy black hair. "It's not what you think. It's not what we've been taught. It's _worse_ and also _better_. I'll tell you everything, but I have two requests, first."

"All right," Cal said, watching him.

Jayesh sat up and squared his shoulders, looking Cal in the face. "When I spoke to the Traveler, I was ridiculed. City media smeared my name for years. I'm still a laughingstock in academia. Now I've spoken to the Darkness. Do you know what they'll do to me?"

"Have you spoken to it?" Cal said.

Jayesh nodded. "It never shuts up, once you get it started. But everything I tell you has to be kept secret. If you do release it, don't put my name on it. Please? I have a family who will suffer. Remember, people tried to have me assassinated over the Traveler thing. What do you think they'll do to my wife and children?"

Cal made a note on his tablet. "Your report will be kept anonymous. Not what I expected, coming from a man of the Darkness. What's your second request?"

"Could I get a burger and fries?" Jayesh said. "I haven't eaten in forty-four hours."

For the first time, a smile broke across Cal's face. "I could probably rustle up something. We're here to cure you, not torture you."

"Could have fooled me," Jayesh said dryly, lifting both hands to the limit of their chains.

Cal departed and was gone for a while. When he returned, he carried two platters of burgers and fries. He set one in front of Jayesh. The other he set at the other end of the table. He had his Ghost transmat him a comfortable armchair, and settled into it with a sigh.

Jayesh took an enormous bite of his burger and let his eyes roll back in his head in bliss. "This is amazing." He swallowed and added, "Not afraid to eat with a man of Darkness?"

"I know you, Jayesh Khatri," Cal said peaceably, opening his burger and stuffing it with fries. "I can deal with you if you pull anything. But you won't pull anything. Right?"

"Why would I?" Jayesh said. "I don't use fire at random, against friends. Why would I use ice?"

Cal studied him in silence as they ate. "After your report, I want a demonstration."

"I can do it now," Jayesh said. He held up a french fry in two fingers. Ice crystals sprouted and grew, encasing the fry in a layer of clear ice. He set it on the table. "Same control as the Light. I had to learn, and I used your techniques, Cal. You taught me well."

Cal picked up the iced fry and turned it over. He snapped it in half and inspected the ice's thickness. "Fascinating. I'll have technical questions later. For now, start at the part where you vanished into a blizzard."

"Right," said Jayesh, drawing a deep breath. "Well, it was cold out …"

* * *

It was fifty-two degrees below zero. Merely existing on Europa's surface was to experience constant pain as one began freezing to death from the outside in. The sun was more distant than on Earth and gave no warmth. Its muted light was reflected to blinding levels by the eternal ice.

Jayesh wore five layers of insulated clothing, body armor, and a heavy robe, and he still lost feeling in his hands and feet within ten minutes. Frost constantly threatened to cover his helmet's visor as his breath froze. He trudged over the ice toward the first radio emitter box, which was shut down and showed only one red light. Overhead, an eight-story radio dish pointed into the sky, listening for signals from across the solar system. Or, it would, if he could activate it.

Jayesh glanced at the horizon, then looked away. A huge pyramid dominated the skyline, rising above a white plain. It could have been a mile away, or two hundred miles away--distances were tricky to judge in this wasteland. Its presence weighed on his mind, as did the aura of Darkness that surrounded Europa. It had nothing to do with the sunlight, blinding on the snow and ice. This was an oppressive heaviness, depression, and a dimming of the mind. Jayesh felt as if a heavy, soft weight constantly pressed on his head. His Light was being slowly throttled.

Phoenix felt it, too. He appeared at Jayesh's thought, his red and yellow shell a bit of welcome color against the endless white. He scanned the first radio emitter. "I'll try to get it working." His voice was low and dreary.

Jayesh rested his eyes on the colorful Ghost, positioning himself to block the wind. "Are you holding up all right?"

"I don't know," Phoenix said as he worked. "I didn't expect to be here this long. Ghosts have told stories about looking for their Guardians on Europa. It was always a dark place, even before the Black Fleet arrived. Maybe that's why they came."

"I don't understand why they don't speak to us," Jayesh said, glancing over his shoulder at the pyramid. "Back on Io, with the Tree of Silver Wings … it seemed willing to talk to Eris Morn."

"Even with the Hive filtering," Phoenix agreed. "I have her transcripts. There, I think I've gotten this one working."

Jayesh tapped the controls and was gratified to see a light ignite on the side of the box. The feed inside his helmet HUD displayed a low bitrate data stream. Static crackled through his radio. "Come on, let's find the next one."

As he turned away, a voice spoke from the radio chatter. He couldn't tell what it said, but it was a single syllable that stood out from the rest. He froze. "Who was that?"

"It's them," Phoenix said, his eye contracting to a frightened pinprick. "The Darkness ships." He disappeared, hiding inside Jayesh's armor in phase.

Jayesh trudged over the hard-packed snow toward the next emitter. The wind was picking up, pellets of snow driving against his gear. The pyramid on the horizon was fading into a blinding white mist, the sky disappearing as the blizzard moved in. His teeth began to chatter. "Maybe the pyramids wanted a radio link. They'll say whatever and we can go home."

"Unless they kill us," Phoenix whimpered. "Or turn us evil. I feel them, Jay. They're getting into my shell. They'll take me over, soon." 

"Hang in there, Phoenix," Jayesh said. "Remember, we serve the Light. The Darkness can't defeat it. Hold on to that."

They found the next emitter. Phoenix emerged and got it working, the wind knocking him about. His shell was encrusted with snow by the time he vanished again. As they hiked to the third station, Jayesh again heard the voice.

_ Thank you … _

A chill raced through him that had nothing to do with the biting wind. The Darkness was actually speaking aloud. He'd longed for this day with a sickening anticipation, the way a prisoner awaits the final gunshot at his execution. Jayesh had spoken to the Traveler. Now he would speak to the Darkness.

They reached the third emitter and activated it. Phoenix turned to Jayesh and shuddered in the blizzard. "It's too strong," he murmured. Then his eye went still and unfocused. He hung in place, gazing at nothing. His voice went flat and dead. "We have kept you waiting long enough. Come. We wish to speak to you."

Jayesh's mouth went dry. He reached out and lifted Phoenix out of the air in his numbed hands. The Ghost made no sign that he knew what was happening. Another consciousness was speaking through him.

The blizzard died around them, the wind dropping to a whisper. The blowing snow cleared away, and blue sky opened overhead. Jayesh turned, gazing around in surprise. Then his heart lurched in fright.

Twenty feet away, down the hill, a pylon was assembling itself out of black pyramid splinters. The splinters appeared out of nowhere and flew together, stacking themselves seamlessly into a diamond shape about six feet long. This pylon hung in the air, unsupported. Heavy Darkness enveloped Jayesh's mind and soul. The snow's whiteness actually seemed to fade. It had become midnight and Light was gone. Death and shadows lay about him.

He wanted to take his Ghost and run. But he had been sent here to commune with this Darkness, find out what it wanted, and if Earth might be spared. So he took step after slow step toward that pylon. Between the lifting of each foot and setting it down, he lived a lifetime of fear and anguish.

The Darkness grew heavier as he approached. By the time he reached the pylon, Jayesh might as well have been standing in the black, crushing depths of the sea. Sickness dragged at his limbs. He lifted a shaking hand toward the pylon. "I've--I've come to talk," he stammered.

The splinters making up the pylon broke apart from each other and descended upon his outstretched hand. They were heavy--

The world blinked sideways and Jayesh was in the Black Garden.

The cold was gone, replaced by sickly warmth. He stood knee-deep in red flowers beneath a green sky. Strange, flat-topped mountains lined the horizon, like mountains in a dream that were not quite right.

Standing nearby was himself.

It was another Jayesh, a mirror version. It wore his same layers of gear and carried a copy of Phoenix in one hand. But as Jayesh watched, the copy smiled and his Ghost floated into the air, taking its place above his left shoulder. The real Phoenix remained comatose.

"Who are you?" Jayesh said.

The copy wore his face, but lacked the blue sparkle of Light in its eyes. It smiled and gestured. "Take it off. Let's see you."

Jayesh pulled off his helmet and saw that the green sky was full of pyramid ships. They loomed all around, seeming to eavesdrop on this meeting.

"That's better," said the copy, grinning. "How rude of us to extend an invitation, and then not meet you upon your arrival."

"Why do you speak to me now?" Jayesh asked. "And why me? There are thousands of other Guardians."

"There's a lot riding on you," said the copy. Somehow it was beside him, draping its arm around his shoulders in an overly-familiar way. It waved at the pyramids. "This is the great wager. The Gardener has placed all its bets on you, it's Lightbearers. You carry a blessing of the Light, Jayesh Khatri. So, do you know who I very much want to join my side? Someone whom the Gardener has lavished so much love upon. Someone whom it would cause pain for the Light to lose."

"Who are you, then?" Jayesh asked.

The copy laid a hand on its chest. "I am the Winnower. I am entropy and death. I am Darkness."

"I figured," Jayesh said, stepping away from the thing's touch with a shudder. "I was sent to find out if you'll negotiate. For Earth."

"Is that right?" said the Winnower. "You are the representative the Vanguard sent, even knowing how precious you are to the Gardener? They might as well have sent me flowers and chocolate. Well then. Let's negotiate. You join me, and I'll spare your little blue planet."

"I can't do that," Jayesh said. He began to sweat in the warmth, and with nervousness. "The Light gave me a new life. It's been with me for years, guiding me step by step. I can't betray it."

The Winnower laughed. "You are human. You can be bought, like any other. The Light has bought your loyalty, for now. But I have not yet given you a gift." It raised a beckoning finger. "Come to us. We will give you the gift of absolute zero."

The Black Garden vanished. Jayesh was still standing in the snow, one hand outstretched. But the pylon was gone. He shuddered and dropped his arm to his side.

In his other hand, Phoenix stirred. He blinked and slowly floated into the air. "It used me," he whimpered. "It used my connection with you to jack straight into your neurons."

"So … I wasn't in the Black Garden just now?"

"No," Phoenix replied, flicking snow off his shell. "It was an illusion it fed you. I don't like this. Darkness hallucinations!"

"Calm down," Jayesh said, stroking him. "I've dealt with hallucinations before."

"Not like these," Phoenix said. "They came through me. That's how you know they're good ones."

"Well …" Jayesh tried to find something encouraging to say. "You'll let me know when something isn't real, right?"

"After the fact, yes," Phoenix said. "Once it let's me go. I _hate_ that feeling. It's like an imposter version of me creeps into my shell and takes over."

This was so similar to Jayesh's Darkness double that his stomach clenched. He drew a deep breath. "So … what now?"

Phoenix vanished. His voice said in Jayesh's head, "There's another pylon down there, in the canyon to the east. I think it's waiting for us."

Jayesh had his Ghost transmat him his sparrow. He drove down the hill and cautiously entered the canyon. The pylon was the same as the first one, a six-foot-long diamond. Instead of speaking, it dissolved into splinters and reformed half a mile down the canyon.

The canyon was a crack in a sheet of ice, the walls vivid blue and sharp as glass. Jayesh navigated carefully through it for several miles. The pylon appeared at intervals, leading him onward.

At last, the canyon gave way to an open plain of snow-streaked ice. The horizon was dominated by the onyx pyramid. Was he supposed to go all the way out there? Jayesh's heart quailed at the thought of leaving his fireteam so far behind. Even now, he was tempted to turn back and tell them what was happening.

As he sat there, his sparrow's engine idling beneath him, something moved out by the pyramid. A huge triangle shape hurtled away from it as if launched by a catapult, unfolding in midair as it came. Jayesh flinched and backed his sparrow into the shelter of the canyon mouth. The unfolding black material struck the snow, tumbled in a cloud of white, and came to rest half a mile away. There it continued to unfold and orient itself, creating a small ziggurat with an obelisk at each corner. It gleamed black against the stone, looking alien and pagan in a bloodthirsty way. This was the kind of ziggurat where human sacrifices gasped their last breaths and their blood flowed down the steps. Jayesh had no intention of being one. If the Darkness expected him to visit a building they had thrown in his direction, they were going to be disappointed.

"Jay," Phoenix said. "There's something happening down below."

As soon as he spoke, a bullet ricocheted off the ice a foot from Jayesh's head. 

Jayesh leaped off his sparrow and gestured for Phoenix to store it. Whipping out his hand cannon, Lumina, he dropped into a crouch and peered out of the canyon mouth.

Directly below, the ground fell in cracked ice that made stairsteps. At the foot of these stairs, three human figures battled at least twenty Fallen. Jayesh squinted against the glare of the sun on the snow. One figure appeared and disappeared among the attackers, fighting with a set of knives. A second ducked and dodged about, firing a hand cannon in a more conventional Guardian style. The third flung around an orb of energy that stunned enemies or knocked weapons from their hands, allowing the other two to finish them off.

Jayesh watched, ready to lend a hand, but it was the most unusual fight he'd ever seen. He didn't dare fire into the crowd for fear of hitting one of the humans.

The fight lasted forty-one seconds. Then the Fallen were dead, the humans inspecting the bodies for weapons or glimmer. Jayesh holstered his weapon and descended the ice steps. "Nice fighting."

The three looked up. To his surprise, he recognized two of them. The one in heavy robes and a veiled face was Eris Morn, her orb floating above her hand. He'd last seen her on Earth's moon, then later on Io. She was a Guardian whose Ghost had been killed. She was also the Vanguard's best expert on Darkness.

The other he recognized, also dressed in heavy clothes and a breathing device, as the Drifter. A rogue Lightbearer who ran a game called Gambit, Jayesh and the Drifter had a cordial relationship. Jayesh had played Gambit a few times, but the constant Darkness contact had been too much for his tastes. It was unsurprising to see both of them here. Both had knowledge of the Darkness. 

The third figure was a stranger: a female exo wrapped in heavy clothing, a cloak and hood sheltering her face. As he approached, her blue eyes scrutinized him. One hand dropped to the hilt of her knife, then relaxed.

"Hey, it's Jayesh!" the Drifter exclaimed, his voice muffled by his breathing device. "Get over here, kid. What're you doing here?"

Jayesh peered around. A semi-permanent shelter had been set up against the cliff, like a tent with a solid roof. A couple of crates of supplies sat outside it, half-buried in drifted snow. There had once been a fire pit, but the recent fight had scattered the fuel and ashes in every direction.

"Uh," Jayesh said, "I'm here on Vanguard business." He turned to the stranger. "I'm afraid we haven't been introduced. I'm Jayesh Khatri, Sunsinger warlock."

The exo scrutinized his outstretched hand, then his face. Slowly she shook hands. "Pleased to meet you, Jayesh Khatri. You're from the Vanguard? Why did they send you?"

Jayesh pointed at the pyramid and ziggurat. "I'm supposed to communicate with the Darkness. Find out what it wants. How we can defeat it."

The exo scrutinized his face, as if seeking something there. "Have you interacted with the Darkness before?"

Jayesh cleared his throat, aware of the Drifter and Eris's attention. "Y--yes. A little while ago. It said it … would give me a gift."

"Ah." The exo gazed at him a moment longer. Then she pointed at the ziggurat. "That is the way the Darkness intends to grant you this gift. It is a ziggurat and its intent is temptation."

"What kind of temptation?" Jayesh said, his eyes turning unwillingly to the black structure.

"To use the powers the Darkness will grant you," said the stranger. "To let the lure of power draw you from the Light. The power it will grant is called stasis. It lets you control ice."

"Ice," Jayesh repeated. "Ice? That's it? I thought it would be blotting out the universe with shadow or something."

"Isn't ice enough?" said the exo, her eyes narrowing. "It immobilizes and kills swiftly, but first, it causes pain. That is the Darkness's favorite tool."

Slowly Jayesh nodded, thinking through the implications of this. So that's what the Darkness had meant by absolute zero.

Watching him, the exo said, "The line between Light and Dark is so very thin. Let's cross it together. Give into temptation. Take up the stasis power." She reached into the pocket of her cloak and produced a pyramid splinter. It gleamed black in the sunlight, so shiny that it appeared wet. Jayesh hesitantly took it. It was heavy, yet somehow, it felt satisfying. It was exactly the right weight and size for him to grip. He turned it over, studying it. Phoenix materialized and looked, too.

"How do I know I can trust you?" he blurted. "For all I know, you're an agent of the Darkness. You never told me your name, even." He turned to the Drifter and Eris. "Do you two trust her?"

"Let her say her bit, kid," the Drifter replied. "You think we're out here 'cause we want to be?"

"You are welcome to leave," Eris said irritably. Her three eyes blinked at the Drifter behind her veil. "You must have games to run somewhere."

"Naw, Gambit's gimped with Mars and Mercury missing," the Drifter replied. "Have to scout new arenas. Maybe here on Europa. Icy terrain, interesting challenges for the players. You ought to try it, Moondust."

Eris gestured to Jayesh. "Ignore the pitiful Rat, Guardian. Listen to her. She has been our guide and she will be yours."

Jayesh studied all three of them, then turned to the exo again. "You're either a decent person, or a total villain. I can't decide what the Drifter's support means."

The exo smiled, the panels of her face shifting upward. "Your caution is appreciated. I will explain everything soon. Meanwhile, I'm not certain that I can trust you. Who has the Vanguard sent to commune with Darkness? What has it said to you?"

Jayesh exchanged glances with his Ghost. "Well, I … the Darkness took my shape. It said it couldn't wait for me to join it. If I do, it would spare Earth. I told it that I couldn't abandon the Light. It laughed at me and said it would buy my loyalty with a gift."

There was a brief silence. The exo studied him closely. "Fascinating. It sounds almost … eager." She hesitated, then went on, "There is one rule you must understand about the Darkness, Jayesh Khatri. It lies. Every word it speaks is a lie or a half-truth. It twists and perverts. Your Light is strong, and it desires to quench you, personally. Are you strong enough to stand against it?"

"I'll try," Jayesh said. "I don't know if I can fight the Darkness."

"We are not called to fight it," the exo replied. "We are called only to stand. Even that is nearly impossible." She studied him again, especially the spark of Light in his eyes. "Go to the ziggurat. Commune. Accept the Darkness's gift. That splinter will enable you to use it. When you return, we will talk further."

Jayesh nodded. He squared his shoulders and set out toward the ziggurat.


	3. Chill

Cal set down his cup of hot tea and studied Jayesh over his tablet. "And then you learned this stasis power?"

Jayesh sat at the table, staring moodily at the chains on his wrists. "It wasn't that simple. The ziggurat was locked with layers of ice. Each layer had a seal on it with a glyph etched in obsidian. I could only reach the first one." He fell silent and folded his hands on the tabletop.

Cal waited, watching him.

Jayesh tapped his thumbs together. "The worst part was how gleeful the Darkness was about it all. I touched that glyph and I was back in the Black Garden. There was my doppelganger. 'Ah, here you are,' he said. 'Come to accept a noble gift of death. Do you consider death to be evil, Jayesh Khatri?' I said, 'It depends.' He laughed. 'Is it evil to end the suffering of an animal? To allow the ill and wounded to escape from their misery? Is it evil to reap a field of wheat, killing the plant in the process? Death is not evil. You have been told that I am evil. But I bring the end of suffering. Take my gift. Learn to end suffering as I do. Witness the compassion that death brings.'"

Jayesh looked at Cal. "From that moment on, I knew the other side of the Light."

"What do you mean?" Cal asked.

Jayesh struggled to put it into words. "Life and death … it's not one or the other. It's more like a spectrum. At one end is utter death and silence. At the other is blazing, consuming, chaotic life. But reality falls somewhere in between. You need a little death to experience sleep, for example. Rest and peace are a departure from the eternal busyness of life. But then, you need the vivid times, the passion, the fire and vigor. I think, in a perfect world, the far end of the spectrum would not be death. Only rest. But our reality is weighted too far, and the Winnower waits there with death in its hand."

Cal tapped a few notes on his tablet, then studied Jayesh from beneath lowered brows. "So you're saying that the Darkness enlightened you."

Jayesh interlocked his thumbs and gazed at them. "In a way, yes. It gave me a new perspective. I understood it better. But that was only the beginning of the debate." He lifted a hand. Ice crystals sprouted from his palm and created a many-pointed star of white frost. He set it on the tabletop and watched it as it slowly melted. "I held the splinter in one hand and created ice with the other. Being surrounded by ice on Europa made no difference. That ice was never alive. I found that I could reach out and find warm things, warm bodies, warm hearts … and I could freeze them solid. It was exhilarating and … horrifying."

"Where is the splinter now?" Cal asked.

Jayesh raised his eyes to Cal's. "I don't have it any more. I'll get to that later. As soon as the Darkness finished with me and kicked my mind back to Europa, I found messages from my team. They needed help. I had to go find them before I could hear more from the exo stranger."

"What happened then?" Cal said.

Jayesh grinned ruefully. "I showed them the powers of Darkness."

* * *

"Jayesh! Where are you?" Nell's message exclaimed. "We're getting our asses handed to us on gilded platters out here! These Fallen are using ice, somehow! Get out here and give us some fire! And if you're dead somewhere, I'm gonna kill you!"

Jayesh summoned his sparrow and powered away from the ziggurat, glad to put it behind him. But the knowledge the Darkness had given him lay like a shadow in his mind. He had no time to think it through, to come to grips or understand it. His friends were pinned down, and the Darkness-wielding House of Salvation were too much for them.

"Can you contact them, Phoenix?" he asked.

His Ghost responded sluggishly. "I … think so. Ugh, I don't feel well. The Darkness is making me sick. I wish it would stop using me that way." After a moment, he said, "Hadrian is busy helping Nell fight and can't talk. But Grant's Ghost, Sentry, is available."

"Ask for an update," Jayesh said. "It'll take me a while to reach Cadmus Ridge."

Sentry's soft, feminine voice spoke over the team radio link. "Hello, Jayesh. Variks asked us to investigate the Fallen Kell, Eramis. Our investigation found that she has a pyramid splinter in a mechanical gauntlet on her left hand. It allows her to use Darkness to create ice and freeze things. We barely escaped. We regrouped and went after one of her lieutenants, Phylaks. But her guards also use this stasis power. It's … difficult to fight."

"Hang in there," Jayesh said. "I'm on my way."

"Yes," said Sentry. She hesitated, then said, "Could you … sing to us?"

Jayesh knew what she was asking. As a Sunsinger, he had the power to use his voice to empower his team to synchronize their battle moves. More than that, he could instill them with courage and an unbeatable fighting spirit. Fresh from communing with Darkness, he didn't know if his inner song, his Light, was strong enough. But it was worth a try.

"Open the channel," he said to Phoenix. He began to sing in Napali. It was the language that had flowed from him as he came into his full strength as a Sunsinger, a language spoken only by a small subset of people in the Last City. It had taken him months to discover what language it was, this artifact of his past life. He sang a song he had written, a simple hymn in praise of the Light. The rhythm was quick and upbeat, meant for singing during battle. His own spirits rose as he sang. Warmth crept through him for the first time, his inner Light kindling to flame.

Grant and Nell cheered at the first couple of notes. Then there was nothing but gunshots, the clang of metal, and the thud of fists against flesh. His team were fighting for their lives.

But within a few minutes, the fight died down. Grant said, "Falling back to regroup. Sending our coordinates, Jayesh."

"Right," Jayesh said, breaking off his song.

"Oh, keep singing," Nell said. "You were just getting to my favorite part."

Jayesh did so, smiling inside his helmet. Nell sang along, her voice harmonizing with his. Grant listened in silence.

It took some time for Jayesh to find them. They were hiding in a small cave not far from a huge tunnel that led down into a sunken Clovis Bray facility. Aliens hunted all over the hills and ice cliffs, angry as disturbed ants. Jayesh had to circle around for an extra two miles before he could reach his team without being seen.

He dismissed his sparrow and hiked in on foot, silent now, his pale robes blending with the snowscape. When he found Nell and Grant, they were huddled together in the small cave, which was more like a spacious crack in a wall of ice.

"There you are," Nell said, her teeth chattering. Jayesh joined their huddle, putting an arm around her, too. Nell pressed her hands against his side, cold even through her gloves. "You're so warm! I wish I was that warm."

Jayesh clenched his teeth to keep from yelping in a non-manly falsetto register. "Didn't we talk about personal space recently?"

"Doesn't mean anything when you're freezing to death," Nell replied. "Those idiot Fallen tried to encase me in ice. They did freeze Grant at one point. He broke out of the ice himself because he's just that awesome."

Jayesh met Grant's orange eyes, which glowed through his faceplate. "Are you all right?"

The exo Titan inclined his head. "The ice encased my armor but did not penetrate to my underlying skeletal structure. I broke free, but it damaged my armor. Sentry has been making repairs." He nodded to his Ghost, who hovered at his left elbow, her beam playing up and down the joint.

"And you?" Jayesh said to Nell.

The diminutive Hunter smiled at him through her own helmet. "They only got my legs, but they couldn't quite freeze me to the ground. I kicked it off. But I've been stupid cold ever since. It was like …" Her voice lowered, some of the cheerfulness draining away. "It was like I was in the shadow of a pyramid. I can't describe it. It was more than ice. It was going to kill me."

There was a short silence. They watched an Eliksni scout pass by their hiding place without seeing them.

"So, about that," Jayesh said. "I had a chat with the Darkness."

He instantly had Nell and Grant's undivided attention.

He related what it said about death being beneficial, and about the ziggurat, and the exo stranger whom Eris Morn and the Drifter seemed to trust.

"No way, really?" Nell broke in. "That strange exo, blue eyes, white face paint, kind of weird and soft-spoken? She's been an urban legend for years! The other Hunters tell all kinds of stories about her." She pounded a fist against her knee. "And the Drifter knows her? He's been holding out on me!"

"The Drifter knows everyone, Firefly," Grant said.

Nell smiled up at him. "I know he does, Four. It just never occurred to me to ask him." She turned back to Jayesh. "So what was the Darkness's gift? Endless evil? Are you plotting to take over the world?"

"I would have gotten away with it, too," Jayesh said with a straight face, "if not for you meddling kids."

"Now I know you're evil," Nell said, as Grant chuckled.

Jayesh pulled out the splinter and displayed it on his palm. It gleamed obsidian black, smooth as glass, the points of the pyramid so sharp they seemed to scratch the eye. They'd already poked holes in Jayesh's belt pouch. "Exo Stranger gave this to me. It's a splinter of a pyramid and it lets me do this." Frost crept over his hand, encasing his glove in a layer of clear ice.

"Just like the Fallen," Nell exclaimed, staring.

Grant leaned forward and inspected the ice. Then he scrutinized Jayesh's face. "Of all the Guardians I know, you stand closest to the Light. What does it mean to you to step into the Darkness?"

Jayesh met his friend's gaze, wondering at his perception. "It's like being cast into outer darkness, with weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Nell looked back and forth between them. "That's hyperbole, right? You're exaggerating."

Jayesh said nothing, but he looked away.

Grant said, "How can we support you? You're not alone. In fact, you should not be alone at a time like this."

Jayesh said quietly, "Just … talk to me after I've had one of these … communions. Help me remember the Light. I have a feeling that the Darkness has only begun it's arguments. It's not like the Traveler. The Traveler is like a friend who enjoys a debate. The Darkness is an opponent who can't wait to destroy me."

Nell hugged him in silence, patting his back. "We'll be here," she said as she pulled away. "I'm not much use at theology, but I've skated that edge. It's scary."

Jayesh nodded in silence. "You don't know how glad I am for your support."

Nell slowly smiled. "Could you teach me to use ice?"

"Well." Jayesh looked at the splinter, still clutched in his hand. "You'd need one of these."

"Eramis's dudes all use them!" Nell exclaimed. "If we kill this Phylaks, we can loot her splinter and I can throw ice at them."

"What if the Darkness speaks to you?" Jayesh said.

Nell rolled her eyes. "Will it honestly say anything different from what those weapons of sorrow said? Give in to despair, let the dark consume you, and so forth ad nauseum?"

Jayesh grinned. "It's about the same, honestly."

Grant watched Nell uneasily. "I think … if she's going to learn such powers, then I should, as well." He met Jayesh's eyes. "You might be team lead, but I am our Titan. It's my job to defend you two. If either of you succumb to this darkening, I'll blame myself forever. If one of us must walk this path, then all three of us will. Perhaps we shall not have to entirely turn our backs on the Light."

"I hope not," Jayesh said. "Light, I really hope not." He grasped the splinter and watched as ice grew over his hand again. In his other hand, he summoned a flicker of Solar Light. He held the two powers like that, Light in one hand, Darkness in the other. Nell and Grant watched him. 

One of Nell's hands slipped into Grant's. She shivered. "I … I think we need to learn. It's only ice. We don't have to buy the philosophy, too, right?"

"I hope not," Jayesh said. "Once we finish off this Phylaks, we'll speak to Exo Stranger. She has these powers, too, I think."

* * *

"So," said Aunor Mahal, "you led your team into the Darkness alongside you."

She and Cal had reviewed Jayesh's testimony, and Aunor had returned to Jayesh's room, carrying her tablet and looking grim.

Jayesh lifted his head and blinked at her. He'd been dozing with his head on the table between his chained hands. His face sagged with weariness, and the blue Light in his eyes barely shone at all. "No, ma'am. They chose to learn stasis out of loyalty to me. That's important."

"So you say," Aunor replied. "I have here a message from your Hunter, Nell. She says, and I quote, 'Jay, tell her that you're her salvation and watch her face, it's hilarious'." Aunor glared at Jayesh over her tablet. "Is this a coded message? What does this reference to salvation mean?"

Jayesh groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "Nell, why do you do this to me?" he mumbled. When Aunor's silence grew more irritated, he drew a deep breath and looked up. "Nell took a … unique approach to the Darkness. It wouldn't work for me, but it was a perfect fit for her. But Grant took the second splinter. He wouldn't let Nell touch it until he had experienced stasis for himself."

"So he says," Aunor said, gesturing at her tablet. "But only you seem to have communed with the Darkness. Your initial report talks a lot about this so-called salvation it offers."

Jayesh nodded. "It spoke to them a little, but it couldn't get to them the way it could me. It _wanted_ me."

"Explain," said Aunor, her eyes opening dangerously wide. She looked as if she were considering subjecting him to Praxic fire then and there.

Jayesh rubbed his face, but could not erase the lines of weariness that lingered around his eyes and mouth. "After we defeated Phylaks, we went back to the exo woman. Grant and Nell chatted to the Drifter while I spoke to the stranger, alone."


	4. Communion

"All right," Jayesh said, the wind whipping his robes around his legs. "I gave in and crossed the thin line. Now I can ice my own hand. Is this what you wanted?"

The exo stranger placed a hand on his shoulder and turned their backs to the wind. Another blizzard lurked on the horizon, but as long as the black pyramid was visible, they had at least half an hour before needing to seek shelter.

"You did it, and I'm impressed," said the exo, studying him from a foot away. He watched as her mechanical irises dilated and rotated, scanning his face. "You've seen how the Fallen use stasis?"

"Yes," Jayesh replied. "We just took down one of Eramis's leaders, Phylaks. She froze us over and over. It even overcame our Light, once."

The exo's gaze turned away, scanning the icy plain, the ziggurat, and the oncoming storm. After a moment she turned back. "What has the Darkness said to you?"

Jayesh repeated its arguments. Somehow, they became shallow and false when he tried to articulate them in the light of day.

The exo nodded. "You see how it lies. Truth and lies mingled. It demands that you agree, or that you give in, or that you despair. But it will not accept inaction. Even standing against it is better than that."

"But I need to learn this power," Jayesh said. "I only wish it had another source."

The exo pressed her mouthparts together and shook her head. "Just as the Light is the source of fire, the Darkness is the source of cold. We must learn both to keep it from destroying all. I have seen it." Again, her gaze wandered from him, as if seeing something he could not.

"Seen what?" Jayesh said. "You're a Guardian, right?"

"No," she said absently. "I was not forged in Light."

Jayesh waited in silence. He was aware of Phoenix attending to the conversation from his phased state. His poor Ghost, having to accompany his Guardian into the shadows. But Phoenix never blamed him, facing the Darkness with stalwart courage.

"I am not from this timeline," the exo said suddenly. "I have walked many timelines, trying to defeat the Darkness. It has triumphed in every one. But this one might be different." She studied Jayesh again. "I don't know you. There have been different Guardians in each timeline, but you are new. I haven't seen your fall. Neither have I seen you succeed. Your Light is strong, not that that has stopped the Darkness before. I would very much like to know why this timeline is different. Why are you special?"

"I'm a new Guardian," Jayesh said. "I've been alive ten years, now. Beyond that, I have no idea. How do you travel between timelines?"

He met her gaze and saw her smile. "Ah, such a warlock. Always questioning. That is my secret to keep. All that matters is, I have seen Guardians use the Light against the Darkness. But death feeds upon life, so they fail. Wielding death against death has brought some success. But such power corrupts the user after a time. The Guardians who learned stasis before you let their hubris and anger consume them, and it quenched their Light."

Jayesh exhaled, watching his breath swirl away on the wind. "What now?"

The exo pointed at the ziggurat. "You must commune further. The Darkness has more to say. Only when you have opened all four seals will you attain mastery of stasis. Go now, before the storm arrives."

Jayesh didn't want to go back to that awful ziggurat. He wanted to hike back to his ship, fly home, and bury his face in Kari's warm neck. He wanted to eat hot food and not have to wear so many layers. And no more infernal wind. But he said none of this. The Vanguard was depending on him to learn about the Darkness so humanity might survive. So he left his friends behind and went to the ziggurat alone, the wind slicing him with cold.

"I hope this is the right thing to do," Phoenix said in his head. He sounded despondent. "Phylaks mocked us, said we were weak from god-dependence. Have you ever felt that the Traveler restricts us?"

"No," Jayesh said slowly. "But then … yes, actually." He slowly climbed the ziggurat's many steps, each with a layer of snow as fine as sand. "The Light has rules. Morals. Do not murder. Do not lie. Do not steal. You know the list. It's not excessive, but it exists. Some people hate that. But you know, if you live your life that way … you avoid so many pitfalls and troubles. It's not restrictions, so much. More like guideposts through a swamp."

"I'm glad you're my Guardian," Phoenix said in a low voice. "Not many Guardians would have said that just now." As they reached the top of the steps, he added, "The Traveler remains silent. It hasn't spoken since it repaired itself."

"It's waiting to see what happens, maybe," Jayesh said. He didn't voice the sick despair that came with the Traveler's silence. He'd had to fall back on his book, where he'd written down everything it had ever said to him. Reading it had brought him some measure of comfort in this wasteland. 

He reached the top of the ziggurat and faced the remaining seals: three black splinters with an unknown symbol etched on each one. He centered himself, lifted a hand, and touched one.

He blinked and he was in the Black Garden, standing in the shade of a huge, twisted tree. Beneath the tree, sitting among the red flowers, was the Winnower.

It still wore Jayesh's image, but it grinned up at him with teeth stained red from some fruit it had been eating. "Hello, Jayesh Khatri. Back for more of my power?"

Jayesh stared at the Winnower and loathed it with every fiber of his being. It took him a moment to say, "Yes, I suppose I am."

"So unsure," said the Winnower, rising to its feet. "You have tasted stasis. Perhaps it was not enough? You must have more. You come to me, seeking salvation."

"I don't need salvation from you," Jayesh said.

"Yes, you do." The Winnower was suddenly beside him, breathing unclean breath in Jayesh's face. It wrapped an arm around Jayesh's neck and pointed up into the tree. "Do you see the fruits on this tree? Each one is full of seeds. The fruit must die, consumed by another, before the seeds are free to achieve their full potential."

Jayesh bent his head away from the Winnower in revulsion. "So am I a fruit … or a seed?"

"A seed, of course," the Winnower laughed, releasing him. It plucked a fruit and tore it open, red juice running down its hands, staining its fingernails. Several seeds lay in the core. 

"The fruit is the Light," said the Winnower. "You would lie entombed in it forever, left to yourself. But to grow, to become more--" The Winnower ripped the seeds from the fruit and flicked them across the meadow. "You need me," it finished, taking a bite of the fruit. It didn't offer any to Jayesh.

"What if I refuse your so-called salvation?" Jayesh said. "Will you kill me?"

The Winnower grinned. "Eventually, yes. I kill everything. It's what I do. The Gardener constantly plants new gardens, and I reap the crop. If you refuse to grow … then you are merely a fruit to be consumed, along with your Light."

"And if I grow?" Jayesh said in despair. "What do I become once you've torn me from the Light?"

The Winnower slowly smiled, its teeth stained maroon. "Every plant grows toward the Light, doesn't it? You'll find your way back. Unless you decide that Darkness is better. Accept my salvation, that I might gift you with my own power."

Jayesh never took his eyes off the Winnower. He sensed that a great deal of truth was being omitted, and the Winnower was planning to stab him in the back. But he had to learn stasis, or the Darkness would triumph. He drew a deep breath. "Grant me your salvation."

The Black Garden vanished. He was back in the ziggurat, and a pylon had formed above him. As he stood there, it broke apart into splinters, smaller than dust, and trickled down upon his head. He couldn't see them, but he felt them as a new, horrible cold, like a wound suddenly exposed to the air. He automatically reached for his Light, and found it cut off. No song. Silence. This was Darkness, then, this feeling of cold that filled him. He wanted to hate it, and fear it, and claw it from his own flesh. But he must not fight. He must accept it--for now.

"Phoenix," he whispered. "It's so cold."

"I'm here, Jay," his Ghost replied in his ear. "It's not speaking through me any more."

"What's it doing to me?"

"It's trading your Light for Darkness. It's fascinating, in an awful way. I can't help you. Or heal you."

"It's taken me away from my own Ghost," Jayesh said. He lifted his hand with the splinter in it, and watched as ice encased his hand, then his arm. The ice crept over his whole body, but from his hand there grew a long staff of blue and white frost. The end sprouted ice crystals.

Jayesh forced his limbs to move or he'd be frozen solid. The ice snapped at his elbows, knees, and feet, breaking away from the ground. His gear split and tore away along with it. But the ice staff remained in his hand, glittering with possibilities. He aimed it at a pillar. Ice blasted off the staff and impacted on the black stone.

Jayesh forced himself to move, to test this new power, this ice he could fling from his hand. He worked through the exercises he'd done as a new Guardian, timing his breathing to the pulses of power. Control. Always control. He was a warrior, and a warrior must temper his strength. But within him, his song was silenced. Darkness filled him, weighted with the slow inevitability of death, itself.

Then he turned to find Grant standing there.

The exo Titan gripped his own splinter, ice crystals creeping up his arm, freezing his gauntlet. His orange eyes were haunted. "Are you training?"

"Yes," Jayesh said, suddenly relieved not to be alone. "Are you trying to learn?"

"I communed with it," Grant said, lifting the splinter. "For Nell's sake, I must learn this. The Darkness is a dreadfully smarmy fellow, don't you think?"

Jayesh smiled for the first time. His face was numb beneath his helmet. "I think the Darkness hates each of us personally. Come on, show me what you can do."

They trained together, as they had as new Guardians, practicing with other classes to learn their fighting styles . Grant could slam his fist into the ground and freeze Jayesh's feet to the stone. He could grow ice crystals in a wall and punch through them. Used in tandem, their powers to freeze and shatter promised to devastate any enemies. As they practiced, they talked over the Darkness's words.

"It uses a lot of plant metaphors," Grant said, crushing an ice crystals the same size he was. "But we are human beings, not plants. We have more worth than that. Are we not creations of the Light?"

"So I've read," Jayesh replied, firing ice in precise patterns. "All life was brought out of nothing by the Light, and the Traveler was the Gardener, sent to tend that life. But the Winnower interfered."

"It said it plays a game with the Gardener," Grant said. "They were equals."

"The Darkness lies," Jayesh said. "The Traveler said that the Winnower came later, from outside. If I have to believe anyone, I'll believe the being on the side of the Light."

"I think I can use this power," Grant said. "It draws from the core of your being, have you noticed? It wants me to hate. I have to keep reminding myself that I do this for Nell. For love. So she will not fall for the deception."

"I don't think she should learn stasis," Jayesh said. "She already has an affinity with Darkness. I don't want to lose her."

"I know," Grant said, very quietly. They stood side by side and released the power, letting it flow back into the pylon overhead. The sense of deadly cold lessened. Jayesh's constant Sunsinger song returned to his heart. It was then he realized that a full blizzard howled around them. He had not noticed the cold and storm while in the stasis state.

"Can we make it to shelter?" he called to Grant over the wind's roar.

"We must," said the Titan. "Join arms. Sing your sun song. It's not far, but we must have warmth, now."

Jayesh drew on the Light and began to sing. Heat began to burn from him, wings flickering at his shoulders. He and Grant descended the ziggurat stairs, and step by step, made their way back to the camp of the exo stranger.

Nell was anxiously looking out for them. She helped them into the tent, its double-layered walls rippling in the storm. Eris Morn, the Drifter, and the exo stranger were inside, and it was toasty warm. Jayesh let his Light go out and sat on the floor, shivering, as the ice and snow began to melt off his gear. Grant sat beside him.

"Here," said the exo stranger, placing a large mug in each of their hands. "Drink this. It helps."

Jayesh took a sip and found that she'd given him some sort of spiced red soup. The pepper burned his throat, and he coughed a little. But it felt so good as it burned a trail all the way down into his stomach, that he took sip after sip. Around him, the others drank from their own mugs. The exo stirred a large pot over a hot plate, her eyes often flicking in the direction of the two half-frozen Guardians.

Nell said nothing, but she produced a towel and mopped melting snow off them. She paused often to kiss Grant's metal face, sometimes pressing her cheek to his. The two were engaged after a couple of years of dating. But they hadn't set a date for the wedding until after they survived Europa. Jayesh's heart hurt as he watched Grant turn his head and kiss Nell, as well as an exo could. If they didn't survive … or if Nell didn't … no, don't think about that. All three of them would make it through this.

Phoenix appeared and pulsed healing Light into Jayesh, warming him further. "I'll have to repair your gear," he said privately to Jayesh. "The ice has torn your joints to pieces."

Jayesh nodded. Without speaking, he caught the Ghost out of the air and pressed him to his cheek. Phoenix's shell was cold. He pulsed a tiny bit of Light against his Guardian's skin, like a tiny kiss. Then Jayesh let him go and returned to his soup. Eris and the Drifter were arguing, and the exo stranger gazed into the soup pot, pretending she had seen nothing.

Jayesh's thoughts wandered back to the ziggurat. Two more seals awaited him. Two more encounters with the Darkness. He'd survived so far, and he could survive more. But his spirit felt battered and worn already, like a faded autumn leaf. He'd suck it up and see it through to the end. The City and the Vanguard needed him to learn this power in order to use it against the Darkness. But he worried for Nell and Grant. They were both young Guardians, resurrected after the Red War, and had far less experience with the Light. If he lost them to the Darkness, the guilt would torment him for centuries. But he couldn't help anyone if he was frozen and exhausted.

So he drank his soup, thawed in the warmth, and listened to the wind howl over the frozen wastes outside.

* * *

"May I have my Ghost back, please?" Jayesh asked.

Aunor Mahal sat in a chair some distance from the table where he was chained. She was reading over the transcript of his testimony, biting a thumbnail. He marveled at how her tightly braided hair never seemed to unravel. It was like woven metal. Aunor's whole body seemed metal and inhuman, more mechanical than an exo's. But it wasn't her body that was fierce: it was her spirit, indomitable, convinced of absolute truth, and ready to go to any lengths to realize it.

After a time, she looked up, her green eyes scrutinizing him. "Your Ghost has finished his evaluation, and he has fully cooperated. I'll allow him to return to you, if only to observe how you two interact."

Jayesh's tired face broke into a relieved smile. "Thank you, Ms. Mahal."

Aunor gestured to her Ghost, who disappeared. After a moment, the heavy door opened and Cal walked in, carrying a plastic box. Inside was a Ghost with a Praxic capture band around him, keeping him from flying or communicating. Jayesh restrained himself from leaping to his feet at the sight.

Cal unlocked the band and freed the Ghost. Instantly Phoenix phased to escape his grasp, disappearing and reappearing in front of Jayesh. "Jay!" he cried, hurling himself into his Guardian's arms. "Oh Jay, they've chained you up!"

Jayesh caught him and pressed the tiny robot to his heart. "I'm all right," he murmured. "They haven't hurt me." Tears sprang to his eyes and a lump formed in his throat. Part of the Darkness was silence and isolation, and Phoenix had made sure that Jayesh had never been alone. But now, being locked in this dismal room and questioned for hours, his mind kept slipping back into that dark place where ice and death lurked. Seeing Phoenix and feeling his bright spark through their mutual bond snapped Jayesh out of that place, back into the real world of life, warmth, and happiness.

Aunor watched this reunion with a frown. After a while she returned to reading her tablet, but she often glanced up at Jayesh and Phoenix.

Jayesh whispered, “Did they hurt you?” He lifted his Ghost and turned him over, inspecting his shell for damage, his fingers light and gentle. 

Phoenix allowed this, utterly trusting. “No, they barely touched me. They attached the band and set me in the box. When they had to move me, they only touched the box.”

“Good.” It was an unspoken rule among Guardians that Ghosts were sacred, and no Guardian ever touched another Guardian’s Ghost, except when absolutely necessary. Even the Praxic Order observed this taboo. 

Jayesh opened Phoenix’s shell to inspect his core. The rainbow oxidized spots were still there, even though he had offered to polish them away for years. Phoenix kept them as a badge of honor from when he had caught himself on fire to save his Guardian.

“They asked about those,” Phoenix said inside Jayesh’s head. “It’s a good thing the Vanguard had records of that night. They asked if you’d been harming me.”

Jayesh’s hands trembled. Rage flashed through him at the very idea. “I would never,” he thought, his words fragmenting with emotion. “I would never--how dare they think--never--” His hands closed around the Ghost's shell, leaving only the little blue eye visible. He pressed his forehead against his hands, so Phoenix's eye touched his left eyelid. "Never," he whispered.

Phoenix closed his eye, too, and they sat together like that for a moment. Jayesh sensed his Ghost's singing contentment at the contact, of being with his Guardian again. Along with it came a broad ribbon of trust, assuring Jayesh that he knew he'd never try to hurt him. Swelling, rejoicing pride followed, proud of Jayesh for going through this, for standing up to the Darkness, for not crumbling before the Praxic Order.

After a while, Aunor cleared her throat. Jayesh slowly released Phoenix, who took his place at his left shoulder.

"I certainly hope this display of affection isn't for my benefit," she said dryly.

Jayesh met her gaze and didn't respond.

Aunor shrugged. "I've been comparing your individual testimonies. They match, which is a good sign. If you wish to remain together, you must both cooperate with this investigation. That means answering questions, even if it incriminates your partner."

Phoenix and Jayesh exchanged uneasy glances.

"You don't have anything to hide, do you?" said Aunor.

Jayesh looked away. "Not about Darkness. Darkness is straightforward."

"Well then," Aunor said, watching him. "What else do you have on your mind, Khatri?"

Phoenix knew his thought and flew forward a few inches. "The Fallen had infiltrated the old Clovis Bray facility there on Europa. We learned a lot of things there that are … troubling."

"You fear for your friend, Grant-4?" Aunor said.

Jayesh shook his head. "I fear for every exo alive today, Ms. Mahal, once this information gets out. Clovis Bray was a very sick man. The exo race was his legacy … and I'm still horrified by what we learned. It hit Grant hardest of all. The Darkness said things to him about it."

Aunor's mouth compressed into a line. "I suppose we'd better have a chat with him about it."

"Let him have his Ghost, too," Jayesh said. "You have no idea how important our Ghosts are. They keep us sane."

Aunor looked at him a long moment, as if weighing his words. "All right."


End file.
